The Banshee's Song
by Luke2
Summary: At Hogwarts young Ravenclaw first year Ezekial Mavers finds himself in a showdown with a Banshee after The Grey Lady dissapears. But the plot thickens when Ezekial's Slytherin sister Melinda is revealed to have a connection with a plot to revive Voldemort
1. The Delivery

Chapter 1 ~ The Delivery  
  
In a strange looking house, on a strange looking street a strange boy woke up and rolled over. It was just 7:30am, but being an early riser was not what made Ezekial Mavers strange.  
The boy, 11 years old got up and strectched his arms. He had jet black hair cut short and a pair of intense, intelligent blue eyes. He was skinny, and tall with a thin but friendly face. Currently wearing Dinosaur PJs, Ezekial, as we now know his name to be, rolled off his bed and onto his feet. They were normal feet, leading to normal legs, and a normal waist and chest, a normal neck, normal head and face and, of course normal hair.  
But Ezekial Mavers, as we now know, was not a normal boy. Not to us.  
He yawned loudly and threw open his wardrobe door. The clothes behind were normal enough, though to the right was a collection of long robes of varying colours. But Ezekial chose a pair of faded old jeans and a red jumper rather than the strange, shimmering robes.  
Pulling them on, he found a pair of socks lying on his floor. Pulling them onto his feet, he set off at a run out of his room and down the stairs. Now these stairs give us the first clue to Ezekial's starnge life. They were stone, which is, I suppose normal for him, yet not for us. At the bottom of the staircase, Exekial hit a floor made of plush purple carpet. A strange enough colour for us, but not for the boy.  
Immediately in front of the staircase is a door, plain wood with stained glass windows. Two, side by side seperated by a thin line of wood. The pictures on these windows give us our second clue to our odd boy's secret. On the left (Ezekial's left) is a long green dragon that takes up almost all of the glass, and on the right was a tall man with long red hair and a pointy cap. He was wearing a flowing purple robe and wielding a short stick, a wand. Out of the end was erupting little stars that were aimed at the opposite window and the dragon.  
For Ezekial Mavers was a wizard, and had been awaiting, for three days straight, for his letter of admittance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but alas we are getting ahead of ourselves, for Ezekial has all ready walked through the sitting room and arrived in the kitchen, holding a thick envelope with no stamp, and an adress written in green ink. The hand was firm and elegant.  
Sitting down at the table, Ezekial dropped the other letters, which included a second envelope adressed to one Melinda Mavers, on he table and looked up at his mother, who was at work in the kitchen waving a long, slim wand about and cooking breakfast. She looked a kind woman, with compassionate green eyes and luscious brown hair. When she smiled Ezekial felt warm inside, as did most who saw it, and when she frowned she looked just as serene. "Good morning dear," She said happily as Ezekial looked up at her, his mouth open.  
"I-I-It's arrived," He managed to stammer before dropping his eyes back down to the letter in his hand.  
"Well open it dear," His mother replied distractadly, she waved her wand at the dishes in the sink and the began to jump about, cleaning themselves. "Confound your father he said he would do those last night. Just a wave of a wand is all it takes." She muttered.  
Ezekial payed no attention, and rather opened the nveope, withdrawing a thick wad of folded parchment. The first was a letter, and it read as so;  
  
HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY  
  
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore  
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)  
  
Dear Mr Mavers,  
We are pleased to infor you that you have a place at Hogwarts  
School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all  
necessary books and equipment,  
Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no  
later than 31 July.  
  
Yours sincerely,  
  
Minerva McGonagall  
Deupty Headmistress  
  
Ezekial looked up. "I got in!" He cried at his mother excitedly.  
"Well of course you did, dear," His mother said happily "Both your father and I were top students their we made sure you and Melinda would get in when the time came." Both Ezekials parents had been Prefects, honour students and Ravenclaw House members. Ezekial had alot to live up to in their eyes. "You just make sure you're sorted in to Ravenclaw young man." She added sternly, turning to face him for the first time. She waved her wand at him threateningly. "I don't want you playing up like those Gryffindors, or soft like the Hufflepuffs, or weird like those Slytherins. Ravenclaw is the only house for a Mavers." She concluded and turned around again.  
Ezekial let the first slip of parchment drop to the table and looked at the second. It read;  
  
HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY  
  
Uniform  
First year students will require:  
1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)  
2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear  
3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)  
4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)  
Please note that all pupils clothes should carry name tags  
  
Set Books  
  
All students should have a copy of each of the following:  
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk  
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot  
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling  
A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emmerich Switch  
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungo by Phyllida Spore  
Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenious Jigger  
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander  
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble  
  
Other Equipment  
1 wand  
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)  
1 set glass or crystal phials  
1 telescope  
1 set brass scales  
  
Students may also bring an owl OR cat OR toad  
  
PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE  
NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS  
  
That was it. Ezekial repeated the list, this time out loud so his mother could hear it. She nooded as he said certain things and cried out when he said others, remembering her old days at the famous school. "Oh you'll have such a time, Ezekial! I'm so proud of you honey." She flew from the kitchen to give him a kiss and a hug as a tall man walked into the room.  
Perhaps tall is an understatement, for Cameron Mavers stood at 6 feet 7 inches tall. He nodded curtly at them both before sitting down. "Good morning." He said in a voice that boomed. His had long red hair and was dressed in purple robes, like the wizard on the door. He had a long, fiercely featured face with kind eyes. "Ahh I see your letter has arrived Eazy." He said, gesturing at the parchment with one hand whilst withdrawing his wand with another. It was shorter than Ezekial's mothers', and thicker. It was black and imposing, and completely sitff. He waved it about the kitchen, and had a kettle of coffee boiling in no time.  
Ezekial beamed up at his father proudly. "We have shopping to do," He said sliding the list over the table.  
"I should imagine we do," His father murmured, picking the list up and reading through it. When he reached the protective gloves he let out a snort, "Now he's a story for you, my lad," He said loudly. "Franklin Gall thought he didn't need his gloves one day in potions. Making polyjuice potion we were, as I remember it. He got the mixture wrong, as he often did, no Ravenclaw was he. Anyway his hand slipped into the potion, ate very one of his fingers it did, no lie!" Wincing at the memory, his father continued. "Spent all night having them grown back with the nurse. Painful business that, I know I've performed three myself. Can hear the cries of agony three halls over."  
Ezekial's dad was a doctor at SMH. (Spell Misshaps Hospital) It specialised in Wizards and Witches who made mistakes during spell working.  
"I remember young Franklin," Ezekial's mother put in darkly. "Mean young man as I remember it, very rude. Once made Gretchen Hill of Hufflepuff's nose the size of a watermelon. Poor girl."  
"It's true!" Cameron cried. "Slytherin he was from. Awful house. Full of ambitious, ruthless eviltons! Mark my words Ezekial you get put in Slytherin.. well.. well I don't know what I'd do I'd be so mad."  
Ezekial nodded. Of all the four Hogwarts Houses Slytherin was the most disliked. From it had spawned Voldemort himself, and all his deatheaters. The other three, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were more distinguished. Gryffindor housed courageous and brave students, former students included Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and Quidditch player Oliver Wood. Hufflepuff was considered the weakest of the houses, but the members were hard workers, friendly and honest. Ravenclaw was Ezekial's family house, and in it resided the smartest, academically gifted students. Ezekial prayed that he was sorted into it.  
"Morning family." Came a cold, harsh voice from the doorway. "Isn't this picturesque." The owner of the voice was Melinda, Ezekial's twin sister, though they weren't identical in any way. Melinda was cruel, cold and vicious. Ezekial beleived she was adopted.  
"Morning dear." Mum and dad said in unison, unfortunately for Eazy she was their favorite.  
"Your letter arrived." Ezekial said, smiling happily. He flicked it over to her as she sat down.  
"Sounds good." She said sarcastically. She tore the envelope open, read tha pages and looked up. "We can't go shopping for this stuff today." She said immediately.  
"We have two weeks to get the stuff." Ezekial put in quickly.  
"We shall goto Diagon Alley and stay over the weekend at the Leaky Cauldron." Their father decided on the spot. "Should be nice to spend a few days together as a family before you both dissapear for school."  
"No can do father dear." Melinda said nonchalantly as their mother served up the pancakes, steaks and eggs they were having for breakfast. "I promised Raven I would go to her house to practice love spells."  
"Well cancel it, we're going to the Leaky Cauldron and that's final, I want to spend the last few days with my children before they take this step ahead in their lives." Cameron replied sternly. Melinda dropped her head and muttered darkly.  
But for Ezekial all this was of little importance, her ate his breakfast quickly before rereading both the peices of parchemnt, yelling a goodbye to his family and running outside to play with his friends and deliver the good news. 


	2. Shopping at Diagon Alley

Chapter 2 ~ Shopping at Diagon Alley  
  
By the time the weekend had arrived, Ezekial had talked every possible detail about Hogwarts over with his best friend Shannon.  
Shannon Kingsley was a stout hearted young boy, who defended the smaller kids from bullies and rooted for the underdog. He was shorter and stockier than Easy, but his face was kinder. He had glazed blue eyes that made him seem slow, and indeed the poor boy was a little behind the ball.  
He was also the only one of Eazy's friends to be accepted into Hogwarts. And both were nervous about starting at the school with only each other for company. But what they both feared most was the idea of being sorted into different houses.  
Shannon was going to Diagon Alley with Ezekial and his family, and they were walking back to his house with an overnight bag.  
Shannon was talking about Quidditch, of course, though Eazy wasn't showing much interest.  
"I'm quite sure they still wont let first years join the team. But I'm hoping they'll bend the rules for me." He was saying doubtfully. Shannon's heroes were Harry Potter and Oliver Wood. Both were going to play Quidditch for England in the upcoming World Cup, Wood as Keeper and Potter as Seeker.  
"They bent the rules for Potter and look where it got him! I tell you E the only way to be as good as that is to start young! And I'll tell Dumbledore or anyone who'll listen, that that's the truth."  
Luckily they arrived back at Ezekial's home before Shannon could finish his speech.  
Eazy lived in a two-story house on a street unlike any we have seen. The signpost was nailed to a tree and hand painted, and there were was no road separating the houses, rather a patch off grass with trees here and there.  
Ezekial led the way inside, and through the sitting room to the kitchen, where the others were waiting.  
His mother smiled and said hello to Shannon, as did his father, but Melinda totally ignored him. She was talking to her friend Raven Gale, who had also been accepted to Hogwarts. Raven was a cruel hearted girl who had once stolen her father's wand and used it to turn E's hair purple.  
Unfortunately she was going to Diagon Alley with them. Raven and Eazy had been enemies since they had met and Raven had tol Eazy he looked like a rat faced stick insect. Eazy had retorted Raven looked like a crow with a human's body. Indeed Raven looked exactly like a crow from the shoulders up, she had dark, dark eyes so you can't tell where the pupils end and the iris begins, as well as black hair. You know that patch of sky between stars at night? That black. Her nose was even pointy, like a beak and she had thin lips. When she smiled she liked like pure evil.  
She smiled at Eazy. "Hi Eazy." She mocked.  
"Hello." E replied, his voice strained. He turned to his parents. "Can we go now?" He asked impatiently. He had been to Diagon Alley many times and knew his way around easily. Once he had gotten some money from his parents he could take Shannon around the place by himself, and not have to look at Raven or Melinda all day.  
"We're heading off as soons as your mother is ready." His father replied.  
"I am ready we were waiting for you!" She said hotly. Shopping always got his mother on edge for some reason. "Now I need some dragon's tooth and frog's liver from the apothecary, and Cameron we need another owl! Winston just can't hack the long trips anymore. I've pratically lost contact with Jennifer. My God I wonder how her..."  
Ezekial looked at Shannon, then pleadingly at his father, who stood up abruptly. "Right then we're off." He said, cutting his mother off in mid sentence. She gave him a look that could melt steel and grabbed a bag of floo powder from the cupboard above the sink.  
"Right kids," she began "I know you'll want to go off on your own almost immediately, but I'm afraid your father and I must get the money from Gringotts first, so stick with us until we say otherwise."  
Eazy groaned and lent against the wall. Now he would have to stay with Raven and Melinda while his parents went to get money from their vault.  
"Here we are girls," his mother was continuing "We'll be right behind you, you all right there Raven dear?"  
"Yes Mrs. Mavers." Raven drooled. She reached her long fingers into the bag and withdrew a small amount of the floo powder, Melinda did the same. They then walked into the living room, and Eazy immediately began on his parents.  
"Mum, Dad! I don't want to stay with Melinda and Raven while you're getting money out! They're.." He paused, not wanting to sounds stupid to Shannon. "Boring." He ended softly.  
"Oh nonsense," his mother retorted, shoving the bag at the boys. They each took a small handful and moped into the living room. When they reached the fireplace they stopped, Eazy was not keen on going first, but nevertheless he threw the powder into the fire. It gloed green and he stepped into it, crying as loud as he could "Diagon Alley."  
The firplace virtually sucked him into itself. On the left and right were various exits, but Eazy waited until he saw the one with Diagon Alley on it, he stepped out as gingerly as possible, but he still fell flat on his face when he hit the ground.  
Cold laughter erupted from above him, and Eazy shot daggers at the girls as he got up and dusted his clothes off.  
Behind him Shannon arrived, walking along the ground cooly. He never had any problem with Floo Powder. "Trouble, E?" He asked, amused.  
"No." Eazy responded, shooting him a "not in front of them." Look.  
Seconds later his mother arrived, she was carrying a deep black purse and wearing reb, silk robes. His parents refused to wear muggle clothing, and whenever they went into London they insisted on looking their best.  
"Well then let's be off." His father said, walking up behind them, wearing deep purple robes and his tallest, stiffest wizard's hat. When he saw the looks on the children's faces he turned red and muttered, "Well I'm expecting to see old George Ungly in Gringotts and he got it for me last Christmas."  
He set off up the road, followed by the rest of them. Towards the end was a large white building with a sign on it saying "Gringott's." It was the only bank in Diagon Alley.  
However on their sides were more interesting shops. Including the apothecary, as well as a robe's shop, ice cream parlour, Ollivander's Wands, a book shop, and more.  
But the Maver's and their guests went straight towards Gringotts, and once inside Mr and MRs Mavers headed for the counter up the end of a long hall. The kids sat near the door in provided chairs, and watched the Goblin's at work.  
"Ahh Ungly you old bat how are you?" They heard Mr Maver's booming voice cry as he met up with the manager of the bank, and his old friend.  
"Goblins are so call cool." Eazy heard Raven whisper to Melinda. His mouth dropped open. How could she like them. They were ugly, scary and very rude. He shot one of them a disdainful look, but when it smiled at him he looked away quickly.  
"Scared, Eazy?" Raven mused, smiling horribly. "Is little Eazy scared of the big bad Goblin?"  
All though Melinda rarely insulted E when her friends were about, she had never defended him, he looked her her with a frown,. She was staring idly at the Goblin's, as if in deep thought.  
For Melinda this was a strange occurance, ignoring Raven he spoke to his sister, "You look like you're in pain Melinda." He said grinning, but she wasn't paying attention.  
"Melinda!" He said loudly. She jumped and turned to him.  
"What?"  
"Oh never mind," E said, embarassed. He turned to Shannon. "You don't like those things do you?" He asked, too loudly. A passing Goblin turned to him and sneered.  
"Things?" It said in a high, but jestful voice. E jumped off the seat and was standing, facing the Goblin.  
"N-Nothing," E stammered, "I m-mean, well I-I was just s-saying that.." His voice trailed off unhopefully.  
Raven burst into unflattering fits of laughter, and even Melinda was chuckling to herself. Shannon, like a true friend, slapped E on the back, knocking him into the Goblin.  
"Woah there kiddo," it said threateningly. Be fore laughing itself and walking off.  
Eazy sat down, glared at Shannon, shot daggers at the girls, and stared at the floor until his parents arrived back, his face red as a tomato.  
"Here you are then kids," Mr Mavers said cheerfully, handing E and Melinda each a collection of gold, silver and bronze coins. As soon as they had the money they were out the door, their Hogwart's lists in their pockets. The two groups headed in different directions as soon as they were outside.  
"Have fun then." Mrs Mavers muttered to herself.  
The boys headed straight for Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour and walked out with two double scoop triple chocolate cones which had cost them two silver Sickles and a bronze Knut each. They licked them as they walked up the road, looking at the various shops, and talking about Quidditch. Shannon wanted to go and look in Quality Quidditch Supplies, but Eazy not being the avid fan Shannon was, managed to talk him out of it. They finished their ice-creams and walked into Madam Malkin's Robe Shop to get their school uniform. The cheerful little witch who owned the store, Madam Malkin and her assistant fitted them up and they walked out with three sets of black robes each. They had been considerably more expensive than the ice-creams and had to pull out the gold Galleons to pay for them.  
Next they went to the Apothecary to look at all the disgusting and slimy things they had in their. Shannon was determined to buy a collection of water slugs that ranged in size from 7 inches to 3 feet. Eazy was disgusted and walked out of the shop, carrying a first year's potion pack.  
In Flourish and Blotts, the book store, they picked up their text books, and Eazy got a interesting book named "A Banshee's Tale." It was written by an anonymous author, and Eazy was suspicious that it was actually written by a banshee. Shannon, extremely bored by the book shop, ended up dragging E out of it to goto the Cauldron Shop.  
After getting the supplies from there, and the telescope and everything on the list they headed for Eeylops Owl Emporium. They spent nearly 20 minutes in their looking for what they wanted. Shannon decided on a huge, ugly toad that looked like a huge pile of mud. It croaked occasionaly, sounding like mud being trodden in. Eazy looked at it disgustedly as he purchased his cat. It was a long haired, cat of some breed E didn't really care about. But it was soft as feathers and was a beautiful deep grey colour. They walked out of the shop with huge smiles on their faces and their new pets in their arms.  
"Just our wands to get then." Shannon said, stroking his toad. His backpack was weighing him down, as was Eazy's. Once inside Ollivander's, they dropped them on the old wooden floor.  
"Be with you two in a moment." Came a voice from behind the stacks.  
"Okay." E replied, sitting down on the only chair provided.  
"Well then, Mr Kingsley, I have just the wand for you right here." Came the voice, closer, in fact from right in front of them. Before them stood an old man with weird grey eyes and a spooky aura. He smiled and handed the box to Shannon. "Take it out my boy, give it a wave." He said. Shannon did just that, and a few little sparks fell from the end.  
Mr Ollivander tsked and took it back. "My mind's slipping in my old age," he said mournfully, grabbing a tape measure from the desk. He set about measuring Shannon, before heading behind the counter again.  
He returned after only a few moments and handed Shannon a nother, slightly shorter wand. Shannon waved it and a thin stream of green, sizzling mist came from the end. "That's the one! Oak, 6 inches, firm. Pheonix tail feather. Good wand, mind you take care of that my boy." Mr Ollivander said, pleased. He then turned to Eazy.  
"Stand up, lad. Let me measure you." He measured E and walked behind the counter yet again, emerging with a wand in a box. "Take that out, Mr Mavers, give it a wish." E followed the instruction and a box on the counter rose into the air, then fell back down.  
"Wonderful! Mahogany, 9 inches, flexible. Pixie hair strand. Very unique, Ezekial. Only sold 4 others in my life. All to good Wizards and Witches mind." He was saying to himself more to than E, he rang up the costs and the boys payed for them.  
After reaching the outside, they headed for the Leaky Cauldron. "Suppoes we'll meet the other's there." E guessed, feeling both tired and excited. No tired and nervous. Very soon he would be starting at Hogwarts. Silently he was not so sure about having a pixie hair in his wand. It sounded like a girl's one.  
Arriving at the Leaky Cauldron, they walked in. "Here they are! You boys ready for some lunch?" Mrs Mavers asked when she spotted them. 


End file.
